Jellyfish and ginger

The impact of textualised Chinese medicine on Japan can be accurately traced from the 10th century onwards, when the Ishinpô was produced, a work that testifies to the transmission of many texts to Japan. In subsequent centuries some of this knowledge became a normal part of medical practice in Japan, at least in those elite circles that have left detailed records. In this lecture I shall focus on a period when the transfer of medical knowledge coincided with a period in which the vernacular was beginning to rival Chinese as the language of medicine and when print offered new ways of disseminating knowledge in Japan. I shall focus on a few texts that epitomise these changes at the same time as demonstrating some of the obstacles to the transfer of medical knowledge. Most of the lecture will concern Japan but I shall also touch upon Korea and Vietnam.